A British Heart Foundation survey earlier this year found a heart attack is suffered every 15 minutes in Scotland, and 10% of Scots are believed to be living with some form of heart or circulatory disease.

The study of English-born people living in Scotland, published in the Scottish Medical Journal, showed they have a 22% lower death rate from heart disease than Scottish-born men.

For English women in Scotland, the rate is 20% lower.

Dr Colin Fischbacher, the lead author of the report, said the exact reasons for the difference were still not known.

He added: "This difference could be because those who move are professionals, and we can speculate they are not taking on Scottish lifestyles.

"But Scots seem to have worse rates of heart disease than even our bad lifestyles would explain.

"Whatever the reason, the English moving to Scotland seem to escape it."

Death certificates

The study also discovered Scots of Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese origin are as likely to suffer heart disease as the general Scottish population.

This indicates they take on negative elements of the Scottish lifestyle which can lead to heart problems, researchers said.

"But we can speculate that by adopting a Scottish lifestyle, taking less exercise and eating less healthily, they may be putting themselves at greater risk of these often fatal conditions."

These groups traditionally have lower rates of many diseases, including cancer, he added.

In many cases, this is due to religious or cultural considerations, such as not smoking or drinking.

Scientists from the University of Edinburgh and the NHS National Services Scotland reached their findings by studying the death certificates of Scottish residents aged 25 or above, who died between 1997 and 2003.